It’s never more evident than when Michigan travels to East Lansing for a Big Ten basketball game.

There are many intimidating venues in college athletics, but the Breslin Center is near the top.

Advertisement

The Spartans’ increasingly legendary coach Tom Izzo has been careful to make sure the crowd doesn’t go over the top, but he does encourage the noise and intimidation factor in a competitive sense.

And in East Lansing, they are more than happy to oblige.

The building holds 15,000, and all but a couple hundred, if that, sitting behind Michigan’s bench in their maize and blue garb, will be wildly rooting for the Spartans Saturday night when MSU hosts the Wolverines.

There is a symbolic factor when Michigan visits the Breslin Center. It speaks to what the Wolverines have been up against since Izzo turned MSU into one of the preeminent hoops programs in the nation.

Izzo has been at Michigan State for 19 years as head coach, just two seasons fewer than Bo Schembechler was the football coach at Michigan. A third of his 18 seasons before this one, MSU has reached the Final Four. State’s won seven regular season Big Ten titles under Izzo. He has a national championship, as well, in 2000.

The Spartans have one loss this season, and are ranked third in the Associated Press poll. Forward Adreian Payne, arguably the Spartans’ best player, has missed the last four games with a sprained foot. The Spartans won all four, anyway.

Michigan State is big, quick, experienced and collectively mentally tough. This is a school that has won two national titles in its basketball history, yet the Spartans have never started a season as well as their current 18-1 record.

It’s an uphill fight in college basketball in this state to compete with MSU. Yet, somehow, the Wolverines under John Beilein are not necessarily losing it.

This week, for the first time in school history, Michigan knocked off two Top 10 teams in the same week (No.3 Wisconsin and No.10 Iowa). The Wolverines, like the Spartans, are undefeated in the Big Ten.

This wasn’t supposed to be happening. Michigan advanced to the national title game last season (MSU was knocked out in the Sweet 16) primarily behind three players – guards Trey Burke (the national player of the year) and Tim Hardaway Jr., and center Mitch McGary.

Burke and Hardaway are in the NBA, and McGary is out for the season with an injury.

Beilein is a terrific coach, though. His players consistently get better season-to-season. Nik Stauskas is one of the most improved players in the nation – and he was good player as a freshman. Caris LeVert might be the most improved player in the nation. His progress has been stunning.

That’s a sign of excellent coaching. It’s a foundation of what Bielein is doing at Michigan. It’s long been a trademark of Izzo, too.

Up and down the line, the Spartans players returning from last season have improved, especially senior point guard Keith Appling. Gary Harris is a brilliant player, and Branden Dawson is back to full health. State’s loaded.

Regular season college basketball games have been reduced in relevance because of the sheer magnitude of the NCAA tournament, but it shouldn’t diminish the excitement of this game or this rivalry.